Sports: Dhoni plots India’s great escape in Bangalore heartstopper

Leading a cricket team may not be rocket science but India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni proved it involves a bit of physics in Wednesday’s World Twenty20 heartstopper against Bangladesh.

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With Bangladesh needing two runs to humble their ‘Big Brother’ off the final delivery from Hardik Pandya, Dhoni made a masterstroke tactical decision following another brain-storming session that marked the late stages of India’s defence of a below-par total in a contest crucial to their semi-final hopes.

Ideas flew in, mostly from paceman Ashish Nehra who had exhausted his quota but was eager to make sure the team benefits from his 17 years’ experience of international cricket.

Dhoni weighed his options before asking Pandya to bowl a back-of-the-length delivery having calculated how much time non-striker Mustafizur Rahman might take to complete a single to level the scores.

“We didn’t want to bowl a yorker, it had to be a back-of-the-length delivery. But how much back-of-the-length? That was the question,” the Indian captain explained after his team prevailed by the slimmest of margins “You don’t want to bowl a wide and by the time it travels to the keeper, the batsman has an opportunity to take one more run.”

“I think his (Pandya’s) execution of the last delivery was fantastic.” Read More